| QUEBEC -
Howard Baldwin, president of the World Hockey Association, admitted Monday that he was
concerned with attendance in some league cities. The Cincinnati Stingers, Houston Aeros
and Indianapolis Racers have been having trouble attracting fans this season and Baldwin
said he had met with the owners of all league franchises to discuss their future in the
league. "Sure, I'd like to see Cincinnati sell more tickets and so would Bill
DeWitt," said Baldwin, who met with DeWitt, the Stingers' representative on the WHA
board of trustees. "I'd like to see Houston sell more tickets. I'd like to see the
New England Whalers sell more tickets. Until we are 100% sold out, we are not 100%
happy." Baldwin suggested a winning team might get the
Cincinnati fans back into the 15,820 seat Riverfront Coliseum. The Stingers are seventh in
the eight-team league with 16 victories, 23 defeats and two ties. "I know in Hartford
(Conn. home of the New England Whalers), our attendance goes in peaks and valleys,
depending on whether we win or lose games. When you are winning you are drawing people.
When you lose, they go away." Baldwin, who is the managing general partner for the
Whalers as well as league president, met with owners of the other seven franchises to
discuss their problems and future plans.
One of the problems bothering owners of the United States-based
teams was the poor attendance in their rinks during the recent tours of the national B
teams from Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union and the Soviet Union's A squad. "I
know the three Canadian teams and the Whalers drew very well," Baldwin said. "We
want to hear what some of the teams who didn't draw well have to say about the value of
the games." |
